I have been reading about the sad civil war that Spain suffered between 1936-1939. Among the thousand of murdered, there were a few members of the Spanish Royal Family (about eleven). Some of them in accidents of aviation, some of them shot, some of them in combat.

And some days ago, I have been looking for books about the Imperial Russian Family (and his sad story).

Other royal families murdered were the Royal Family of Nepal and the Royal Family of Laos.

Quite a few of British Monarchs (English, Scottish and/or British) met a violent end. Here are some of them:

Edmund I - murdered by an exiled thief, LeofaSt Edward the Martyr - murdered by his stepmotherEdward II - he was (presumably) murdered in a rather brutal way, if the stories are to be believed. Richard II - was most probably starved to deathJames I - murdered by a group of Scots, led by Sir Robert GrahamHenry VI - murdered in the TowerLady Jane Grey - executed Mary Stuart - executedCharles I - executed Edward V and Prince Richard of York - both brothers were presumably murdered in the Tower of London (the date, method or even the culprits are unknown)

Malcolm - died in a battleDuncan I - killed by his own menHarold Godwinson - died at the Battle of HastingsWilliam the Conqueror - died of injuries received at the Siege of MantesRichard I the Lionheart - died of wounds received at a siege (in France) James II of Scotland - died in a battle (was near a cannon explosion)Richard III - died at the Battle of BosworthJames III of Scotland - killed in a battleJames IV of Scotland - killed at the Battle of Flodden Field

Russian Royals had equally turbulent history, too many of them were murdered to give a complete list, however this is a short list:

Tzarevich Ivan (Ivan IV, the Terrible's eldest son) - murdered by his own father, while trying to protect his pregnant wifeIvan IV - although there is no conclusive proof of this, the examination of his remains recently showed traces of poisoning. It is generally agreed he was poisoned by Belsky and/or Boris Godunov (days earlier he tried to rape Irina, Godunov's sister and Feodor's (Ivan IV's second eldest son) wife, and only Godunov and Belsky's intervention saved her. It is possible they feared for their own lives)Fyodor II - shortly after his father's (Boris Godunov) death, he was murdered, along with his mother. Although officially he was declared to have been poisoned, later studies indicate a more violent death; according the researchers, he was probably strangled, and it apparently took at least 4 men to overpower FyodorFalse Dmitri I - murdered by conspiratorsFalse Dmitri II - murdered by Peter UrusovIvan VI - murdered by a guard (of the prison where he had spent some 20 years of his life), in accordance with the orders sent by Catherine IIPeter III - supposedly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife (future Catherine II, the Great), although it is uncertain whether Catherine actually knew of the assassination plansPaul I - assassinated as a result of a conspiracy, which put his son, Alexander, on the Throne. It is almost certain Alexander had no idea his father would be murderedAlexander II, the Liberator - one of Russia's greatest Monarch's fell victim to an assassination plotNicholas II, Empress Alexandra and their children - killed by Bolsheviks in 1917Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich - de juro Emperor of Russia was murdered in Perm, most probably on orders from Cheka

Grand Duke Dimitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich - the four Grand Dukes were brutally murdered together in January of 1919 by the Bolsheviks. They were lined up before a ditch and shot. The shots sent their bodies into the trench. The bodies of Grand Duke Nicholas, Grand Duke George and Grand Duke Paul were thrown into a mass grave, however the body of Grand Duke Dimitri was secretly collected by the Grand Duke's former Adjutant, con Leiming, who transferred them to a private burial in Petrograd.
All Grand Dukes faced their deaths with great courage. George and Dimitri prayed before they were shot; Dimitri's prayed for forgiveness for his murderers, his last words were "Forgive them, for they know not what they do"

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, three sons of Grand Duke Konstantine Kosntantinovich (Ivan, Konstantine and Igor), Prince Vladimir Paley (the son of the morganatic marriage of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, a brilliant poet), Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna - according to an eyewitness account, all of them were blindfolded (with the exception of Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, who tried to resist and was shot in hand), sat in a cart and taken to a mine shaft. Blindfolded, the Grand Dukes and the Grand Duchess were ordered to walk across a log placed over the 60 foot deep mine. Sergei Mickailovich tried to disobey and was shot to death; his body was thrown into the shaft. The others were struck in the head and thrown into the shaft still alive. Several hand grenades were thrown in after that.
Although all of them were believed to be death after that, other eyewitnesses claim that groans, cries of pain coming from the shaft were heard for several days. The locals were forbidden to go anywhere near the shaft or try to help those inside – the punishment was death.
The 'execution' took place at the dawn and in great secrecy, for the Bolsheviks believed the local people would oppose such brutal murder, especially that of Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich - his death in 1941 arose a lot of rumours; many believed that Bolsheviks finally 'got him', while others thought Hitler had ordered his death after Dmitri's refusal to lead the army of Russian nobles in the war against Soviet Union (he said that nothing would induce him to fight against fellow Russians)

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, Marseilles, 1934.
King George I of the Hellenes, Salonika, 1913
Prince Willem I of Orange, Delft, 1584
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, 1975
King Birendra, queen Aiswarya and seven other members of the Nepalese RF, Kathmandu, 2001.
King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette of France, Paris, 1793.
Duke John I of Burgundy (aka John the Fearless), Montereau, 1419 (by the French crwon prince and his men).

Possibly murdered:
Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria, Sofia, 1943 (said to be poisoned by the Nazi's)
King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Lake Stamberg, 1886 (he was drowned, according to some sources)

Lucien Grimaldi, Lord of Monaco, was murdered by his nephew Bartholomew Doria :monacoflag:
Emperor Dinh bo Linh, founder of the Dinh dynasty, was murdered by his palace guard while he was sleeping. Nguyen Duc Duc, Emperor of Vietnam for 3 days, was murdered by starvation. His successor, Emperor Hiep Hoa, was forced to kill himself by drinking poison and his successor, Emperor Kien Phuc, was killed by poisoning -1883- the Year of the 3 Emperors :vietnamflag:
Emperor Yongzheng of China was allegedly murdered by the daughter of an official he had executed. Emperor Guangxu of China was allegedly murdered by arsenic poisoning by Empress Dowager Cixi :chinaflag:
King Taksin the Great of Thailand was deposed and later murdered by the founder of the current Chakri dynasty. King Ananda Mahidol, Rama VIII, of Thailand was shot to death in his room at the Grand Palace :thaiflag:
Emperor Shaka of the Zulus was murdered by his 3 half brothers :swazilandflag:
Emperor Montezuma II of Mexico was murdered, whether by his own people or by the Spanish is still disputed. Emperor Agustin de Iturbide of Mexico was shot by firing squad and Emperor Maximilian of Mexico was shot by firing squad :mexicoflag:

sgl

06-07-2009 01:33 PM

Don't forget Lord Louis Mountbatten cousin of the Queen (QEII) who was murdered by the IRA when his boat was blown up in 1979. It was an absolutely horrific event that not only killed Lord Mountbatten, but one of his grandsons, who was only 14.

Don't forget the royal massacre in Nepal, where the Crown Prince interrupted a family dinner and shot and killed several members of his family including his father, and then killed himself. Very sad :(

Lumutqueen

06-07-2009 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgl
(Post 948970)

Don't forget Lord Louis Mountbatten cousin of the Queen (QEII) who was murdered by the IRA when his boat was blown up in 1979. It was an absolutely horrific event that not only killed Lord Mountbatten, but one of his grandsons, who was only 14.

This was an awful tragedy, I've seen footage of Prince Charles after the event and it's heartbreaking, to know a boy as young as 14 was killed is awful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kotroman
(Post 949030)

Elizabeth of Bosnia, Queen of Hungary and Poland, regent for her daughter Mary, was kidnapped in 1386 and strangled in January 1387.

We should only discuss royals who were murdered, not commoners or those who were executed.

Thats terrible; was there a reason why?
And may I ask enquire as to why we should no include those executed that is still murder? And which commoners have been included?

This is shaping up to be a wonderful read.

magnik

06-07-2009 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumutqueen
(Post 949120)

Thats terrible; was there a reason why?
And may I ask enquire as to why we should no include those executed that is still murder? And which commoners have been included?

This is shaping up to be a wonderful read.

Elizabeth after her husbands death was Mary's regent from 1382. In Hungary Elizabeth was helped by Palatine Miklós Garai, Nikola I Gorjanski Stariji. When Sigismund, his powerful brother king Wenceslaus IV and many noblemen of Hungary were opposed to Elizabeth and the Palatine. Some noblemen helped Maria's relative Charles of Naples to become briefly the King of Hungary in 1385. Elizabeth and Mary were forced to attend his coronation. In 1386 both were captured Horvat brothers. There is theory that they do that on the orders of Mary's and co-ruler Sigismund. On January 1387, Elizabeth was strangled before Mary's eyes. Mary bitterly accused squarely her husband of arranging the kidnapping and murder of her mother. Mary reconciled with the Horvats and granted them estates in Slavonia and Northern Bosnia and refused to live with Sigismund and keeping a separate household. In July 1387 Mary was rescued from that captivity by troops of Trytko of Bosnia and the Croatian noble family later known as Frankopan main supporters of the Bosnian faction.